Los Angeles County officials urge local control of ONT

View: Agenda item | Agenda amendment | Ontario letter | ARSAC letter The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has joined more than 100 government entities and officials calling into question the management of L.A./Ontario International Airport and advocating it would be better under local control.

Supervisors passed a motion on Tuesday urging Los Angeles World Airports and the city of Los Angeles to transfer control of Ontario agency. LAWA oversees Ontario and Los Angeles International airports.

The board's support for local management of the mid-sized airport will be detailed in a letter to be sent to LAWA as well as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Ontario Mayor Paul Leon.

"I am pleased that the board approved my motion to support the city of Ontario's efforts to regain control of its airport. LAWA and the city of Los Angeles should be held to the 2006 settlement agreement, which expires in 2015, in which they committed, among several key priorities, to focus on regionalization of air traffic in order to avoid a lawsuit," Supervisor Don Knabe said in a statement.

The motion was co-authored by Knabe, who has been critical of LAWA's management in recent months.

"Unfortunately, all evidence suggests that they have not made a good faith effort, so they should negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement that gives local control back to Ontario. This would benefit the whole region now and also prepare us for future growth," he said.

For more than three years, Ontario officials have been waged in a battle with LAWA over the cause of significant passenger traffic decline at Ontario Airport in recent years.

Airport officials have blamed the economy and a change in the way airlines do business for Ontario Airport's struggles. Airlines have shifted their operations in recent years and reduced the frequency of flights.

Ontario officials say the agency has also failed to market the airport. For more than a year, it has launched an aggressive campaign to take back operations of the airport.

Supervisors passed Tuesday's motion 4-0 with little discussion at their meeting at the Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained.

Supervisor Zev Yarosavsky made an amendment to the motion stating that the transfer must include a "mutually beneficial purchase price and (be done) in a manner that avoids unwarranted litigation and protects the financial interests of Ontario and Los Angeles as well as the interests of all those who use LAX and ONT. "

Knabe has also asked that a report on airport regionalization, which the board instructed its CEO to conduct at the supervisor's request in late February, be discussed at the board's next meeting on May 14.

In 2005, Los Angeles County was among several entities and cities to challenge the environmental reports associated with LAWA's master plan to modernize LAX.

The following year, all the parties involved, including Los Angeles County, agreed to drop a lawsuit over the environmental reports against LAWA if it would agree to spread air traffic across the regional airports.

"Seven years later, it is well understood that LAWA has not kept its promises to those communities, whose health and quality of life is so dramatically impacted by the presence of LAX in their backyard," said Denise Ng, a representative with the Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West at LAX.

The union has come out in support of modernization of LAX but does not favor moving the runways.

Coincidentally, the Los Angeles City Council was taking up the item on LAX's modernization plans almost simultaneously as the supervisors took a stance on the Ontario Airport item.

Council members voted Tuesday to move forward with a proposal to change the runway configuration at LAX.

"It is past time for LAWA to return local control of Ontario International Airport. LAWA has neglected their responsibility here, and residents of Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire are suffering as a result," Ng said.

LAWA had fought back several attempts from Ontario to enter negotiations until late last year, when Los Angeles top administrative officer made the recommendation.

On April 11, following months of closed-door meetings and after failing to reach an amicable resolution on the airport's value with Los Angeles, Ontario filed a claim seeking to dissolve the 1967 joint-powers agreement.

As part of the JPA, Los Angeles assumed management of the airport, which had been struggling, from Ontario.